Call for Contributions IMISCOE 2022: "Positionality and power of migration researchers: Searching for reflexive ways of knowledge production"

Deadline: 30 November, 2021

Positionality and power of migration researchers: Searching for reflexive ways of knowledge production

The IMISCOE Standing Committee “Reflexivities in Migration Studies” calls for contributions which critically reflect on positionalities of migration researchers and related alternative ways of producing knowledge on migration.

This session will shed light on the academic fabrication of migration-related knowledge, its embeddedness in societal power relations and its interrelations with and dependencies on media, public opinion and funding, politics, administration, arts, civil society actors, and other areas of society. The session’s aim is twofold: (i) to better understand the positionality of migration researchers in past and presence by scrutinizing the conditions, power, implications and limitations of their practices and knowledge production; (ii) to explore alternative, reflexive ways of knowledge production, which take the epistemic power of differently positioned migration researchers into consideration.

We are inviting paper proposals addressing the following questions:

  • What are we doing when we research migration? Who is the “we”?

  • What are the factors that establish and change the societal position and the (potential) influence of ‘migration researchers’?

  • How does the ‘migration studies industry’ produce migration and migrants? How does it in/exclude people who have experienced migration and migration-related discrimination?

  • Which ways are useful to visualize the effects of research methods and particular conceptual approaches?

  • How to avoid the unconscious reproduction of dominant (e.g. “European”) narratives on migration and how to stimulate alternative modes of knowledge production?

We particularly welcome proposals from young scholars.

Please send your abstract (300 words) and a short biographical note (150 words) to the coordinator of the Standing Committee, Anna-Lisa Müller: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Deadline for application: 30th November 2021.

You also find the Call for Contributions pdf here (428 KB) .

Latest News

  • Reflexivities PhD Sessions Vol. V (Spring 2025) | Call for Registrations is open

    31.03.2025
    Organized by PhD members of the IMISCOE Standing Committee "Reflexivities in Migration Studies", these sessions are designed to be a collaborative platform. Here, early career researchers can present their work, exchange feedback, debate methodological...
  • Summer School on Migration Studies 2025

    Geographic Migration Centre , a research institute affiliated with the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, Charles University , and IOM International Organization for Migration Czechia cordially invites students...

    Read more …

  • Summer School on European Union Migration Policies

    Deadline: 31st of March 2025
    The Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies (SCEUS) is organising a summer school on European Union migration policies from 7-11 July 2025 . The summer school will offer an opportunity to discuss ongoing research in an interdisciplinary setting...
  • Data Visualisation Workshop for Migration Researchers (online)

    April 7, 2025
    To be held on Zoom o n 7 th April 2025, 4 pm – 6 pm CET The IMISCOE Standing Committee Methodological Approaches and Tools in Migration Research (Meth@Mig) , Centre of Migration Research at University of Warsaw , and Multiple migrations: Quantitative...

    Read more …

  • Call for papers BROAD-ER International Conference- Urban Spaces, Migrant Lives: Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries

    Submission Deadline: 28 February 2025
    They invite papers from scholars and researchers from the fields of migration and urban studies to participate in their upcoming International Conference, organized within the framework of BROAD-ER (Bridging the Migration and Urban Studies Nexus)....